ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on Tuesday issued show-cause notices to four defence ministry and Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) officials for refusing to comply with court orders.

He issued notices after the defence ministry director legal and three ISI officials did not sign an order sheet in which the court had incorporated an undertaking that the agency would clear barricades and encroachments on Khayaban-i-Suharwardy in a month.

The court has also summoned the defence secretary and ISI director general to appear personally before the court today (Wednesday).

The bench was hearing petitions against encroachments in the capital, and the matter of ISI’s encroachment on 40 kanals of Khayaban-i-Suharwardy and its greenbelt from Zero Point to Aabpara had also been taken up.

On June 29, the IHC had directed the defence secretary and ISI director general to appear before it in person. The two institutions then filed civil miscellaneous applications seeking exemptions for two high-profile government officials.

When the court began hearing these petitions, it conditionally allowed the applications after the defence ministry and ISI officials stated they would vacate the road within four to six weeks.

The bench then asked the officials, including the ministry’s director legal Col Falak Naz, a deputy director general of the ISI and two officials from the agency’s law department to sign an order sheet endorsing the statement they had made, but all four refused to sign.

At this, Justice Siddiqui issued show-cause notices and directed the two officials to appear before the court.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018